{"id":2442,"date":"2026-06-04T22:37:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T22:37:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=2442"},"modified":"2026-06-04T22:37:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T22:37:01","slug":"spurs-know-they-have-to-be-better-in-game-2-of-the-nba-finals-and-knicks-feel-the-same-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=2442","title":{"rendered":"Spurs know they have to be better in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, and Knicks feel the same way"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>SAN ANTONIO (AP) \u2014 The road to the NBA Finals was not exactly smooth for the San Antonio Spurs.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=2440\">New York City is in a Knicks frenzy for its beloved team\u2019s 1st NBA Finals in 27 years<\/a><\/p>\n<p>They had \u2014 and lost \u2014 home-court advantage in Round 1 against Portland, before recovering to win the series. In Round 2 against Minnesota, the same thing happened. In the Western Conference finals against Oklahoma City, they trailed 2-1 before finding a way to oust the defending champion Thunder in seven games.<\/p>\n<p>And now, the finals. They had home-court advantage and lost it in Game 1 against the New York Knicks. Adversity, hello again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve been consistent in that regard,\u201d Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said Thursday as his team prepares for Game 2 on Friday night. \u201cI think one thing we have learned in our three series is that series are long. Games are long. Things shift quickly, whether that\u2019s health, who\u2019s playing well or hot, quote-unquote, at the time. Teams at this stage typically have shown the ability to evolve on the fly and improve within a series.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s what will be required if the Spurs are going to head to New York with this series knotted at a game apiece.<\/p>\n<p>They shot poorly in Game 1 (36%), extremely poorly from 3-point range (26%, missing 32 of 43 tries), had 16 assists (nowhere near enough), got outscored in the paint 50-42 and couldn\u2019t hold a 14-point third-quarter lead. The Knicks deserve credit for creating a whole lot of those issues, but the Spurs know they\u2019re capable of much better play.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the reason we lost that game isn\u2019t even technical (or) tactical,\u201d Spurs star Victor Wembanyama said. \u201cWe need to approach the game with a better mental state. We just need to play our game. We just need to be normal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Normal?<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2018Normal\u2019 means trusting each other, trusting the basketball gods, trusting the game plan, executing, and not relying on talent so much to make shots or to save the day,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been playing a certain way all season. We\u2019ve been successful this way. There\u2019s no reason to change the day the finals start.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=2438\">Best NC school bus drivers compete in Raleigh event<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It was easy for the Spurs to find areas to clean up.<\/p>\n<p>For the Knicks these days, that\u2019s considerably tougher.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re 12-0 in their last 12 games, the third team to do that in a single postseason. The other two \u2014 San Antonio in 1999 and Golden State in 2017 \u2014 were NBA champions. The Knicks are certainly playing like a championship-capable team, but star guard Jalen Brunson insists that New York can\u2019t subscribe to any sort of thinking that suggests the job is done and a parade is inevitable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s all about just getting better every single day, keep chipping away, keep chipping away, being 1% better,\u201d said Brunson, who led all scorers with 30 points in his finals debut Wednesday. \u201cWhen you take steps back, how can you improve? \u2026 Having that mentality and focus and approach I think allows us to still be students of the game and still find ways to learn, even through wins, and I think we need to continue to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Knicks were coming off their second nine-day break between series \u2014 an unintended consequence of sweeping Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference semifinals and Cleveland in the East finals \u2014 and handled it just fine.<\/p>\n<p>But New York\u2019s Mikal Bridges knows Game 2 will be better.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think our Game 1s, even though we won, have been great at all,\u201d Bridges said. \u201cIt\u2019s tough to assimilate the emotional aspect, how physical it\u2019s going to be when you\u2019re in practice every day, besides being in those games. It\u2019s tough. \u2026 Now, we kind of got a rhythm. We\u2019ve got to be better and I know we will be Game 2.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Spurs hope they will as well.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not must-win time for San Antonio, but going to New York in a 2-0 hole would make the challenge of winning the finals considerably more daunting. The Spurs have handled all the adversity that has come their way so far in the playoffs, and now have to answer that bell again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s very reassuring,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cWe know we\u2019re not here by chance. We\u2019ve been through some weird \u2014 what do you call it? \u2014 weird situations, whatever. Yes, it\u2019s reassuring to know that these guys, the 18 guys we got, are built this way. They are resilient.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=2436\">Upcoming Fayetteville history museum to hold lecture on Juneteenth in North Carolina<\/a><\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nba<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SAN ANTONIO (AP) \u2014 The road to the NBA Finals was not exactly smooth for&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Spurs know they have to be better in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, and Knicks feel the same way - Raleigh Moving News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=2442\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spurs know they have to be better in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, and Knicks feel the same way - 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